March 2, 2010

I was at a friend’s house recently, and observed her kid-friendly refrigerator. It was cluttered with school papers (with lots of A’s!), reminder slips from dentists and doctors, and pretty watercolors. As a mother of three, her refrigerated reflected her life as a parent–cluttered, messy, and rewarding. Then, I realized that because she was divorced, her family had a whole other calendar in another house! Many parents handle these conflicts with collaboration tools, such as google’s shared calendar. However, there are tech tools that are designed specifically for the needs of families of divorce. Juliana Hoyt reviews them on her blog, Dispute-Ed. I note that Our Family Wizard was created with input by Minnesota attorneys. I do not recommend any particular service, but some form of documented communication and joint calendaring is always a good idea, even if it is a calendar and notebook carried in a backpack.